I have exciting news! My rankings will be on CBS! I'll let you know when they are. Another exciting piece of news for the FFT NL crew -- I have finalized in-season planning for Beyond the Box Score, and my intention is to bring you a massive SEVEN weekly Beyond The Boxscore shows. I can confirm that Dan the man and I will be recording multiple times per week! I also intend to produce weekly solo shows where I provide an in-depth usage breakdown for every position to keep you in the know regarding all of your sicko needs.
I also can confirm that Ryan Heath will be joining BTB on a weekly basis once again! We're tackling a new project together this year, so be on the lookout for that! And more good news, I'm teaming up with Theo Gremminger twice each week to provide y'all with top notch content! The OG will join BTB early in the week to reflect on the previous week's outcomes, and I'll join Rotowire late in the week to speculate on the upcoming week's outcomes.
The original BTB crew (Adam Aizer, Dan, and I) will bring you advanced data on Mondays, as per usual -- be sure to be on the lookout for Aizer's tweets leading up to that show, if you send in good questions, we will talk about them on Monday!
BTB will be live on Tuesdays and Thursdays, in addition to the Monday morning live show with Adam on the main FFT channel! You will also find me live on Sunday mornings as a reoccurring guest for the FFT start/sit show!
It's a busy time of year, but it's also my favorite time of year! Football is here! Dan Schneier and I will present our FINAL rankings for each position next week on BTB! Let's lock in and win some leagues!
Imagn Images What defines a league-winner?
Nobody knows what it means. It's provocative. It gets the people going!
If you want an attempt at quantifying it, maybe you'll enjoy this conversation with Ryan Heath of Fantasy Points Data.
Jonathon Brooks, RB, Carolina Panthers
I could be overstating his importance (Carolina's offensive line injuries concern me), but Jonathon Brooks feels like the cheapest potential bell-cow RB who might actually be an awesome talent available in 2026 drafts. Bell-cow running backs are extremely important for Fantasy! If we can land on outside of the first few rounds, it's a massive influx of upside for our Fantasy squads.
Depending on how Chuba Hubbard's hamstring cooperates, there's a chance that Brooks sees a large workload early and never lets go of it. Brooks was the first player I discussed in the 'Welcome Back' show on Beyond the Box Score, because I believe he might be a defining aspect of the 2026 draft season. I don't see any other potential three-down skill-sets available anywhere near Brooks, even as his ADP rises. There are a few names who could profile similarly -- Jaylen Warren, Rhamondre Stevenson, and Rashaad White -- but it would require a backfield teammate to falter or miss time with an injury. Brooks is sharing a backfield with an already-injured player who we saw underperform while struggling with health last year -- Hubbard already has seen this coaching staff give his lead back duties to another RB.
Round 1-2 turn could produce multiple RB league-winners
This range of Fantasy Football drafts produces league winners at a really high rate (relatively speaking). And in 2026, this range of drafts is dominated by the RB position. What is one to do when on the clock and staring at a list of awesome running backs?! Earlier this week on CBSSports.com, I profiled each back for Fantasy purposes -- offering my perception of their ceiling, floor, and stability. Here's my breakdown of the league-winning Rounds 1-2 running backs.
A.J. Brown, WR, New England Patriots
Getty Images Here's my AJB case. I view him as one of the most-likely candidates to finish WR1 overall.
The podcast that I linked in reference to AJB is great, there are tons of nuggets in there. This link should take you to a discussion about the Chicago Bears.
I do not think that there are too many mouths to feed in Chicago. Even if Caleb Williams does not take a step forward (by the way, I feel cautiously optimistic that a step forward is coming -- Ben Johnson's tone has completely shifted over the past 365 days), the WR production we saw from Chicago last year was strong enough to facilitate a strong performance from at least the team's WR1.
Luther Burden, WR, Chicago Bears
If he beats out Rome Odunze for targets (here's why I think that he will), Luther Burden can absolutely produce with even just the same offensive environment provided by the first year of Johnson's tenure in Chicago. I expect more from this offense in Year 2 under Johnson. And I expect Burden to play a huge role within the offense.
Tucker Kraft, TE, Green Bay Packers
The Packers have so much target vacancy to be accounted for. Christian Watson's career-high targets in a game is 10, and he's only been above eight twice. Jayden Reed's career-high targets in a game is also 10, and that's the only time he's had more than eight targets in a game. Those two have been extremely efficient per-target players, but neither has been targeted at a high rate.
Matthew Golden had just a 15.7% target share at the University of Texas in 2024. His target share was above 20% in only 3 of 16 games.
Is Tucker Kraft (target totals of 9 and 10 in two games before his ACL injury last year) going to suddenly play a larger-than-seen-before role? That seemed to be the way things were trending in 2025. It's worth remembering that Jayden Reed was out in both of those games and Christian Watson missed the first and played a partial role in his return from ACL surgery in the second "big Kraft target game."
Jordan Love and Matt LaFleur talk about Kraft like he's "Jordan's guy."
Kraft was definitely the player trusted when in scoring distance. I wonder how realistic it is to expect the target shares we were seeing before his injury sustain over a larger sample size. If we get anything similar to that, Kraft -- a player who has been unbelievably efficient on a per-target basis -- could burn Fantasy leagues to the ground if healthy. The best outcome for Kraft is that he's a rare every-down tight end who can push his route rate into the 90% range, create yards after the catch (at a league-best rate), and convert red zone targets into scores.
What if he's not ready for all that, yet, though?
It would mark a pretty significant leap in his progression for Kraft -- even if not recovering from a reconstructed knee 00 to suddenly operate like a primary target, though. This is why I'm so high on Reed and Watson as 2026 discounts. History tells us that Watson and Reed are more likely to step into that type of a role. Most pass games use outside receivers as the primary read, so Watson in particular looks promising.
Last year, Green Bay had seven instances of a pass-catcher reaching a first-read target share of 33% or higher -- Kraft did it once, Dontayvion Wicks did it once, Romeo Doubs did it twice, and Watson hit that rate three times (consecutive rates of 33%, 40%, and 35% across Weeks 11-13).
Watson returned in Week 8 but was not a full-time player until Week 10. From Week 11 on, he had a first-read target rate of 29.4%, and his rate never dipped below 20%. I wondered if his massively-high average depth of target came down during that stretch, but it was still 15.8 yards. That's so high!
It's very rare to be productive for Fantasy with such a high aDOT. Even the best players who fall in that range (Alec Pierce and Jameson Williams last year) aren't able to push target shares much higher than 23-25%. This again leads me to Reed as a potential league-winner in 2026. Maybe it's Golden. The case feels so clear with Reed, though.
Kraft has the talent to win people leagues. If he's not ready to fill that type of a role, then that means even more volume could shift over to the receivers. And the receivers already are expected to pick up the slack in replacing Wicks and Doubs. I know that betting on Packers receivers has been frustrating in the past, but it really feels like this is a clear source of potential league-winning value depending on how the target distribution shakes out.
Oronde Gadsden II, TE, Los Angeles Chargers
I thought long and hard about who I wanted to write about among the Chargers pass-catchers. My belief is that Ladd McConkey is the most-likely player to put together a huge season. His price tag suggests as much. I still think there's plenty of room for McConkey to be a great pick at ADP, but Quentin Johnston and Year 2 tight end Oronde Gadsden II were the two who I kept feeling compelled to write about.
I landed on Gadsden for reasons similar to Kraft. If he hits, Gadsden profiles as a meaningful red zone weapon who might also add some yardage juice with his unique skill set as a receiver. If Gadsden plays a meaningful role, not only will he be a hit (Year 2 tight ends often do!) as a late-round TE, but it also could detract from the ceiling cases for McConkey and QJ. Conversely, what if Gadsden ends up phased out? David Njoku and Charlie Kolar present more of a 50/50 proposition to opposing defenses. If one or both of those two are in the game, it's not clear if the Chargers will run or pass. If Gadsden is in, it's likely a pass. The Chargers also have a fullback who Mike McDaniel is a known fan of. It's possible that Gadsden simply won't matter much for an offense focused on establishing an effective run game.
That's why I settled on him as a player who might 'define' 2026 Fantasy Football. How do you feel about Gadsden? If you don't expect him to be prioritized, then you probably should be drafting a lot of McConkey or QJ or both. (Also, shoutout BTB favorite Tre Harris, always)
Jaxson Dart, QB, New York Giants
Jaxson Dart is one of five QBs to average 20+ Fantasy points per game (only including starts) as a rookie, dating back to 2000. He was one of, if not outright the best, playmaker at the QB position last year.
Still, Dart is relatively cheap in 2026 drafts. We do not know what to expect from this coaching staff, but I have not heard a single analyst all summer with even a little bit of cope that the coaching might not be that bad. Universally the Fantasy community feels terrified of this situation.
It feels like so much will fall on Dart's shoulders to simply be good enough to make things work in this offense. And, he kind of did last year, without Malik Nabers! If Dart is simply really good, this offense could produce some massive Fantasy producers. The schedule looks really favorable in the second-half of the season. Players like Nabers and Cam Skattebo could produce huge results at decent discounts in drafts. Do you feel like betting on this situation?
The Minnesota Vikings
I can't get over how favorable Minnesota's schedule is. Ever since digging into it with Dan, Minnesota's schedule has remained ingrained in my brain as a potentially important part of 2026 Fantasy Football. This offense was so incredibly disappointing in 2025. It's tough for drafters to wash such a nasty taste from their mouths. If the offense rebounds in 2026, this schedule could facilitate incredible Fantasy outcomes for some severely discounted players.
The toughest defenses I see -- on paper -- on Minnesota's schedule are the Packers and 49ers. And one of those matchups vs. Green Bay comes in Week 1 without Micah Parsons. Beyond that, the toughest matchups might be Saints, Panthers, and Bills. It's an incredible soft schedule, and on top of the advantageous defensive matchups, the Vikings also could benefit from facing some good offenses. We could see some shootouts if the Vikings offense can put points on the board.
I'm coming around on this backfield as a potentially really value source in 2026. A return to health for the tackles could provide a big boost, and I'm intrigued to see what Frank Smith (formerly worked with Mike McDaniel in Miami) might do in revamping Minnesota's scheme. Demond Claiborne is one of my favorite late-round stashes, and I see either Jordan Mason or Aaron Jones as viable picks in drafts where they fall. You might get early-season production, and with good luck, potentially a full season of value.
The passing game is the crux of the Minnesota outcome. And, of course, we have no idea what to expect. I see some concerning signs for Justin Jefferson, in terms of the pairing with Kyler Murray. He's the one who I have the hardest time ever clicking in drafts. Everyone else in this offense feels like a value. But if we see Minnesota put points on the board, Jefferson will probably be a huge part of it. His target shares have never been higher than the last two seasons. We just need the overall passing production in Minnesota to be better for it to matter.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Nobody knows what to expect from Bucky Irving. Nobody really even knows what to expect from Emeka Egbuka, especially now that a toe injury is part of the equation. I am really excited about how Zac Robinson can affect change in Tampa. Pair that with a return to health for a potentially mauling offensive line, and this Bucs offense is one that I want to aggressively attack in drafts.
If you don't believe in Bucky, you absolutely should be scooping up a ton of Kenneth Gainwell at his ADP. I believe in Bucky. The most interesting value on this offense might actually be Chris Godwin. Camp reports are good -- Godwin is expected to play an important role once again, and as my buddy Ryan Heath astutely pointed out, Godwin has been extremely efficient when used in motion at the snap of the football. Robinson has used motion at snap at the highest rate of any play-caller over the past two years.
I even think that we could get surprise Fantasy viability from an ancillary piece such as Cade Otton or Jalen McMillan if Baker blows the league up on his "pay me" tour. And what if the Egbuka injury lingers? This team has a plethora of talented receivers. If there's an injury to any of the top guys, we could see Tez Johnson benefit in a huge way from free releases at the line of scrimmage within Robinson's design. Rookie Ted Hurst has some serious juice.
There's a ton to like in Tampa's offense, and we truly have no idea how the volume is going to be distributed. I want to lean into that uncertainty and pile up as many Bucs as I can on my Fantasy squads. And, of course, I love landing Baker as a late-round QB.
Good luck to anybody drafting this weekend! Keep an eye on your inbox! Rankings updates will be coming your way soon!
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